1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a separable slide fastener for use on knit garments such as cardigan sweaters.
2. Prior Art
There have been proposed separable slide fasteners which have in their stringer tapes longitudinal coarse regions or openings loosely receptive of a chain of thread loops for attaching the stringer tape to a knit garment, and which include a separable bottom end stop mounted on a lower end of the stringer tape. Such separable slide fasteners are described in copending U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 223,201 and 258,647 filed Jan. 7, 1981 and Apr. 29, 1981, respectively, which have been assigned to the present assignee. The proposed separable slide fasteners are connected to knit garments on a knitting machine or linking machine with needles of the machine insertable into the openings in the stringer tape. The separable slide fastener as attached to the knit garment is prevented from becoming puckered or wavy since the openings in the tape that loosely accommodate the thread loops take up forces applied to the knit garment. The knit garment such as a cardigan sweater, while worn with the slide fastener closed, is subjected to a lateral pull particularly at its hem or lower end around the wearer's waist, imposing more tension on a lower end of the slide fastener than on other parts of the latter. Therefore, an end of the chain of thread loops which extends around the lower end of the slide fastener is likely to be displaced laterally off the tape end under continued or sudden lateral stresses.